tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post2917777926284930888..comments2024-03-29T06:32:07.322-04:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Wednesday, April 10Rex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-47989869034734375302013-05-15T19:41:38.753-04:002013-05-15T19:41:38.753-04:00I've seen all these movies so it was fairly ea...I've seen all these movies so it was fairly easy for me. Although I confess that I could not remember which movie had the line YOU HAD ME AT HELLO. (the line is more memorable than the movie which I thought was just "Meh")<br /><br />@DMGrandma, I also had JEb before JED. Maybe I was thinking of JEB Bush? :-) But it was quickly changed to a D because I got "I SEE DEAD PEOPLE" very quickly.<br /><br />I also had no idea about Ascension Day but the crosses fixed it. I barely noticed it. I would have messed up the ANI/DAVIT but previous crossword have taught me Ms. DiFranco's name.<br /><br />Whenever I see MEHTA in a puzzle I think of author Suketu Mehta ("Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found" - highly recommended if you can stomach the violence in it). But I guess he's not famous enough to be in a puzzle yet?Syndi Solvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60950555684399522522013-05-15T19:34:28.998-04:002013-05-15T19:34:28.998-04:00Gah. I don't like puzzles where you either hav...Gah. I don't like puzzles where you either have all the background to answer or you're stuffed. Give me a puzzle where you can derive the answer from the clue and the crosses or admit that you're merely presenting a quiz in the guise of a crossword.straylinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13536180563789923012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27129248062390547402013-05-15T17:08:00.524-04:002013-05-15T17:08:00.524-04:00Not really a movie buff but found it trended easy ...Not really a movie buff but found it trended easy maybe cuz the quotes are so well known, tho I didn't realize the "you had meat" er, "you had me at" was associated with Renée Z. Otherwise naticked at ANI/DAVIT with ANE/DAVET (who knew?). Also had BOAT before COAT for 21A.<br /><br />Wonder if 6A AM PUP could become a warmer, more cuddly rechristening for the American Kennel Club?Waxy in Montrealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04395751487137805245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-19083545031971952652013-05-15T16:00:40.037-04:002013-05-15T16:00:40.037-04:00Better clue for 1a: Dirigonzo's Black Lab.
Ov...Better clue for 1a: Dirigonzo's Black Lab.<br /><br />Over a dozen TV/movie/music clues in addition to the theme led to a lot of guesswork for this pop-culturally deprived solver. I finally managed to get most of the long theme quotes right but the best I could do for Jack Nicholson was HEREStOaNNY (never saw the movie or "The West Wing" and don't have a clue about Maestro Zubin).<br /><br />"Relative difficulty: Easy if you're a movie buff, challenging if not." I'm not, it was.<br /> Dirigonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903353503511480168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32227202556672938932013-05-15T14:03:52.629-04:002013-05-15T14:03:52.629-04:00Had a few problems with one. Remembering Bartlet&...Had a few problems with one. Remembering Bartlet's name as JEb left me with the quote, (unquestioned!) "ISEEbEADPEOPLE"- must have figured it was a film about the Navaho! My other miss came at ETPcOmEHOME. Couldn't work my way out of that one, figuring it must be the "P" that was wrong. Needless to say, I had no idea about the religion or the Kung Fu guy. All in all, a fairly good puzzle, but I add my voice to those who see these things becoming trivia, not language, based. I regret the shift in focus, but I guess it doesn't stop me from coming to the party!<br /><br />Thanks to @OISK for his marvelous addition to Gershwin's lyrics, which express my sentiments much more cleverly than I ever could!DMGrandmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-64697276461986924912013-05-15T13:32:21.474-04:002013-05-15T13:32:21.474-04:00Most of this puzzle was easy, but the south chewed...Most of this puzzle was easy, but the south chewed me up, but good. Had no idea about baked, how does that mean ONPOT? Had ON--T, but the ET quote eluded me, as did the ascension clue, so a big fat DNF, and it's only Wednesday. I agree with @DMG yesterday that she was being set up for mind benders.<br /><br />I thought the puzzle was refreshing and fun, though a little too theme specific. <br /><br />I've enjoyed the write ups this week, thanks to all of you! But, I do miss Rex, snarkiness and all. I relate to his weird sense of humor.Gingernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-57812719060278473962013-05-15T12:52:14.022-04:002013-05-15T12:52:14.022-04:00@Ellen S, eerie coincidence: Just yesterday I did ...@Ellen S, eerie coincidence: Just yesterday I did the Triple Crown winners puzzle in a Will Shortz anthology. It was credited to Nancy Soloman.I Before Enoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-15039129342682139302013-05-15T12:07:38.423-04:002013-05-15T12:07:38.423-04:00Nice catch Retired Chemist.
'You had meat? He...Nice catch Retired Chemist.<br /><br />'You had meat? Hello.'<br /><br />'I was on pot.'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28680798271824413032013-05-15T11:45:37.131-04:002013-05-15T11:45:37.131-04:00Lotsa fun! Debra Winger, really? Wow. The hottie o...Lotsa fun! Debra Winger, really? Wow. The hottie of the day, she could have phoned MY home anytime! A great actress, too, not only in "Officer..." but "Urban Cowboy" and "Terms of Endearment" as well.<br /><br />Added bonus: the symmetry of FATAL and WALL-E. And thanks to Mr. Lim for NOT cluing ANI as a "Wheel of Fortune" request. Now if we could just lose the rapper...<br /><br />More thanks for the "Mad" memory. I had one grunch but the eggplant over there.Spacecraftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-42265305103693107852013-04-11T00:17:10.008-04:002013-04-11T00:17:10.008-04:00This week's relative difficulty ratings. See m...This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak I've made to my method. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week's median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.<br /><br />All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Mon 5:33, 6:10, 0.90, 10%, Easy<br />Tue 7:16, 8:15, 0.88, 15%, Easy<br />Wed 9:50, 10:16, 0.96, 40%, Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Mon 3:22, 3:42, 0.91, 9%, Easy<br />Tue 4:25, 4:49, 0.92, 15%, Easy<br />Wed 5:12, 6:04, 0.86, 12%, Easysanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-3725740857697616982013-04-10T22:05:45.800-04:002013-04-10T22:05:45.800-04:00@chefwen and @Sparky:
Cheers!@chefwen and @Sparky:<br /><br />Cheers!Evanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15440942981870183719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-82985354092760301032013-04-10T20:29:44.498-04:002013-04-10T20:29:44.498-04:00Posting late and didn’t have time to read all the ...Posting late and didn’t have time to read all the comments, so apologies if I’m duplicating, but want to embrace this puzzle, probably the funnest Wednesday ever for me. Thought all the quotes were first rate, impressed by the stacked 15s and theme density, tickled by the previously unknown fact about Debra Winger. Fill was exceptionally strong overall IMHO, with many exceptionally good clues; especially liked LANCE, AESOP, AMPUP, IDIOTS, HEMEN, AFFIX, ONPOT, SHOAL, the END. And all this praise for a puzzle I DNF, with error at OIL/COL crossing—thought 21D would be short for condiment, and figured “oin” must be some weird new-agey thing I’d never heard of. Big smile on finding out Mustard was in fact the Colonel.<br /><br />Couple of strong personal vibes came into play too: Once ran a match add titled Movies (not necessarily ranked by AFI) and SEX. Agree with today’s Rex surrogates about the great clue for ASL, which left me awash in memories of my very short career as a puzzle constructor: Around 1975 (well before any of our under thirty twenty were born), a good friend and I, snowbound for a weekend in Ohio, made up a double-crostic, which we submitted to the NYT. Somewhere think I still have the typewritten rejection letter we got from Will Weng, claiming that he couldn’t consider such a submission because of contractual agreement with whoever was then doing these for the Times. We thought we had a really nice quote, and one great clue: “Digital guidance” for RULE OF THUMB. So exhausted by the mental effort we never attempted another. Have great respect for anyone who does this repeatedly, especially for a meager $200 reward…<br />webwingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15089901257371442298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-76150112379826434832013-04-10T19:53:09.565-04:002013-04-10T19:53:09.565-04:00@r_c: That has to be my all-time favorite theme a...@r_c: That has to be my all-time favorite theme answer!JenCThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18290169184354765840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-41438923191221226772013-04-10T19:49:06.168-04:002013-04-10T19:49:06.168-04:00@Two Ponies: it makes sense that Avast comes from ...@Two Ponies: it makes sense that Avast comes from <br />"hou vast", although in modern Dutch it would mean: hold this. I don't know enough about maritime lingo to help you out. I've always found a lot of similarities in Dutch and Scottish, especially because of fishing and sailing. Frisian and Scottish have a lot of words in common.<br />machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06794371617847975218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-29256226677688332282013-04-10T18:11:18.464-04:002013-04-10T18:11:18.464-04:00So far, nobody has commented on the March 2, 2011 ...So far, nobody has commented on the March 2, 2011 puzzle by David Poole with the theme of alleged movie taglines. (42A), <i>The Titanic</i>, was "ICY DEAD PEOPLE." retired_chemisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13181126754941899228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-18073907929229704312013-04-10T17:24:12.523-04:002013-04-10T17:24:12.523-04:00Can someone explain the relevance of the video in ...Can someone explain the relevance of the video in Rex's blog with<br />the funny looking girl with the ring in her lip?<br /> <br />@Anonymous<br /> The clue said "Bygone theater<br />chain", not "Bygone theater"ANON Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-8600113049940158812013-04-10T16:49:28.233-04:002013-04-10T16:49:28.233-04:00Definitely a new low, in a year of lows. All ideas...Definitely a new low, in a year of lows. All ideas of "word play" seem to have left Mr. Shortz's vision of what the NYT crossword should be, to be replaced by clever specific-knowledge themes crossed by multiple names ad other proper nouns.<br />Top 5 lines alone - 2 long quotes crossed or parallelled by Lance, Mehta, Jed, Psy, Aesop , AFI, Nor.<br />What a pile of garbage - bring me back Maleska!<br /><br />Did a memo go out to devisors at the end of 2012 saying "puzzles without multiple crossing names will no longer be considered"? Sure has seemed like it.David from CAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-13340042684321499652013-04-10T16:40:13.284-04:002013-04-10T16:40:13.284-04:00"I want to be alone." First one I got. I..."I want to be alone." First one I got. Is this a generational thing? Ms. Garbo was really before my time, but I heard the adults talking.....Laurence Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16512608792667325309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-38135173872646488032013-04-10T15:38:43.644-04:002013-04-10T15:38:43.644-04:00Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 8/1/2...Midday report of relative difficulty (see my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation of my method and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak to my method):<br /><br />All solvers (median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)<br /><br />Wed 10:01, 10:16, 0.98, 45%, Medium<br /><br />Top 100 solvers<br /><br />Wed 5:37, 6:04, 0.93, 31%, Easy-Mediumsanfranman59https://www.blogger.com/profile/15118732156312301425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-69134081601009019192013-04-10T15:37:01.577-04:002013-04-10T15:37:01.577-04:00A reel nice Wednesday. I wasn't aware that D....A reel nice Wednesday. I wasn't aware that D.Winger voiced ET!!! Interesting fill. No tired old crap. Hat tip and props for J.L. !Notsofastnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26342238711769400282013-04-10T14:56:24.124-04:002013-04-10T14:56:24.124-04:00@ Carola, Thanks. These terms with their convenien...@ Carola, Thanks. These terms with their convenient vowel at the beginning seem to be a staple of constructors. Maybe @mac can help us with the Dutch. And now that I think about it "oy!" is a common British interjection. Maybe related. Thanks again. I do love words and their origins (my favorite column on Jeopardy:.<br />Three and out mateys.Two Ponieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03279414989390373057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62493693364682185292013-04-10T14:55:00.026-04:002013-04-10T14:55:00.026-04:00Currently in the language:
ON drugs
ON crack
ON ac...Currently in the language:<br />ON drugs<br />ON crack<br />ON acid<br />ON weed<br /><br />Not so much, but still acceptable:<br />ON POT<br /><br />Love me some movie quotes!<br /><br />LojmanLojmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07908151075803077995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-39615659735784556122013-04-10T14:42:16.744-04:002013-04-10T14:42:16.744-04:00@Two Ponies - This can't compete with @evil do...@Two Ponies - This can't compete with @evil doug's response, but your question made me curious. Here's what I found. For words like abeam, alee, amidships, astern, aground, the word is a compound of the preposition "a," expressing position or motion to a position, and a noun. "Avast" and "ahoy" are different, "avast" probably coming from Dutch "hou'vast" = "hold fast," and "ahoy" an interjection like "hey!" Thanks to the Oxford English Dictionary for this lore.Carolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15971759975067250908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87200666481160680692013-04-10T14:41:13.742-04:002013-04-10T14:41:13.742-04:00Well, contrary to the opinion of the writers, alth...Well, contrary to the opinion of the writers, although I'm not a movie buff, I found this puzzle easy too. The fill helped of course - and the fact is that most of these quotes are common parlance without having to know the origin or the speaker or even that they are movie quotes. Every one of them is something someone will say these days, although I would suggest that people who quote Garbo will say "I vant to be alone". HERE'SJOHHNY is a quote quoted (if that makes sense) by the Nicholson character since it was the intro for Johnny Carson for years. The only quote here that is not in common usage is "ISEEDEADPEOPLE. Not much use for that phrase. All the rest are fun to drop into conversation.<br /><br />(My captcha is elpswin - seems a cockney has been through here.)<br />Nigelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-26812111726480004002013-04-10T14:31:46.299-04:002013-04-10T14:31:46.299-04:00From my reading of the literature and conversation...From my reading of the literature and conversations with those who would know, ON POT means one is experiencing the psychoactive effects of ingesting cannabis sativa, whereas "Baked" means one has ingested so much of the stuff that one is nearly comatose. Sorta like the expression "knee-walking drunk" for someone who has had too much alcohol.<br /><br />I believe ON POT was also a old British expression that was equivalent the colonists' "sitting on the throne".<br /><br /> Anoa Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16185183023273883700noreply@blogger.com